


This Penny Thing

by Dizzaeus



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Hogwarts Seventh Year, Oops, Post-Hogwarts, Rowan Khanna is a genderfluid Ravenclaw and nobody can tell me otherwise, Set sometime between 1991 and 1993, Sharing a Bed, The sequence of events isn't canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-21
Updated: 2018-05-21
Packaged: 2019-05-09 17:07:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14720175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dizzaeus/pseuds/Dizzaeus
Summary: The Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery AU where I take the concept and completely turn it gay. Oneshot. Penny/MC





	This Penny Thing

**Author's Note:**

> I am so gay for this couple. Hope you enjoy.

It happens to you one day soon after the start of seventh year.

You are sitting in the great hall with Penny at the Hufflepuff table, munching distractedly on a half soggy sandwich and finishing off your potions essay for Snape. There are a million other things on your mind – The precise weight of crushed Bicorn horn, tomorrow night’s quidditch practice you have yet to plan, Tulip’s upcoming birthday, NEWTS, your prefect duties you have to attend to tonight, Rowan’s distressing amount of unreturned library books near the Ravenclaw common room fireplace, Merula’s weird rash she’s asked you not to tell anyone about, to name a few.

  
But there was one single observation that manages to slip through the cracks.

 

When Penny stands to get to her next class, her blonde hair flows outward as she stretches her body, arms pushing above her head until her back audibly pops. Her plain shirt, yellow tie and prefect badge cradles her chest when her hands meet the air. There is a carefree satisfaction in the way her mouth curves into a pleased exhale, and with her eyes closed, you can see how each eyelash picks up the enchanted sunlight flickering at the edges of her lids, flirtatious in the most miniscule of ways.

She smiles at you and whispers a soft, “see you later, Vega.” And your world pauses.

 

_Penny is hot_.

 

Normally, that line of thinking is never anything to get worked over.  
One, Penny was extremely popular. Every month or so, there would be a new boy that would confess his feelings to her.  
Two, you knew that beauty was universal, and aesthetically pleasing people come from any gender and walks of life.  
Three, Penny is Straight. Penny has been dating Bill Weasley for more than two years.

 

This information was nothing new.

 

But the way this line of thought settled was different. It’s not a casual and fleeting observation. It was the kind of dangerous idea that takes your breath hostage in your throat and makes your stomach lurch enough to signify that you’ve crossed some invisible line. You’ve dipped your toe into the ice-cold waters and you’re not sure if it would feel better if you eased yourself into it or dived in all at once.

The more you think about it, the more you start to feel disconcertingly like the cautious, chip-on-the-shoulder eleven-year-old you were when you first met. And you hate it. You hate it because deep down in your bones you know.

 

You have no chance at all.

 

\--

 

Surprisingly, and much to your relief, your epiphany doesn’t consume you in quite the way you expect it to. You know that you are notorious when it comes to obsessions. You didn’t lose sleep over Penny like you lost sleep thinking about the cursed vaults and Jason, or even winning Slytherin the Quidditch Cup.

  
You accept that you have a crush and reason that it’s only natural, given the amount of time you and Penny spend together.

  
You work together, eat together, shop together, do all your favourite things together, just like best friends do.

Accepting your tiny epiphany makes it easier for things to immediately go back to normal without so much as a blip on anyone’s radar but your own.  
But the epiphany is hard, too, because you can’t help but crave Penny’s presence in the most innocent, platonic of ways. Like sneaking into the kitchens at night for your weekly DnMs, the lingering touches when Penny passes you her Ancient Rune textbooks, and the hugs you share when Quidditch practice ends.

Penny has always freely offered physical affection with such a blissful unawareness of what it does to you or other people, and if you didn’t like it so much, you would find it irritating.

  
The craving doesn’t go away. Instead, it only grows stronger as the weeks unfold, and you believe that if you can just square up and push aside the attraction, the need, then, you can escape from your strange hazy daydream and be the friend that you are meant to be.

  
It’s there though. Always present. Sometimes it gets too much, and you start to include Rowan in whatever plans you make, and it weighs so heavy in your chest that you wonder if anybody else can see.

You think you can hide it – this crush, if no one acknowledges that there is a problem, or that something has changed. If it is kept inside, you can compress it down into something small and light enough to cast away once autumn comes and your feelings fall away.

 

So of course, Penny notices.

 

“Something on your mind Hero?” Penny asks one night in the library. She’s never dropped that nickname for you. “You’ve been so quiet and introverted recently, I’ve never seen you like this.”

  
“Sorry,” you mumble, suddenly wholly interested in the passage of text that you have had to reread about five times already.

“Vega, apologising doesn’t answer the question. You know I dislike it when you do that right?” You both stay like that, at an impasse, Penny’s eyes searching for something while you try to stay silent long enough, squashing the intense need to burst with the truth.

 

Surprisingly, Penny was the first one to cave.

 

“You’re doing it again.” Penny huffs as she snaps, quick enough to give you whiplash from the rapid change. “Don’t make me put Veritaserum into your morning coffee Vega. You know I can do that right?”

“Merula has a rash!” you panic, squeaking loudly enough to warrant an infamous Madame Prince shushing and several stares from the Ravenclaws sitting on the next table over. “It’s a cursed rash and I- I have to go take care of it. See you tomorrow.”

And then you dash out, leaving a dazed Penny and giggling gaggle of Ravenclaws behind.

You immediately want to drown yourself into the Black Lake in embarrassment, or maybe transfer to Durmstrang and never be seen again. Maybe you would get lucky and Merula would swoop in and kill you first for sharing her current darkest secret with Hogwart’s biggest and most popular chatterbox – though you can’t help but feel Merula owes you several favours anyway.  
You are slipping. Slipping out of control deep and fast, and if you weren’t careful with your heart, you could ruin everything.

You have no chance anyway, you know this. So why does your traitorous heart continue to hope?

 

\--

 

The doors to the Great Hall slams open.

“Troll!” Squirrel – uh – you mean Professor Quirrell screams.

Tonight is Halloween, and as per Prefect protocol, you are expected to attend any official feast. You remember scoffing at that when you were given the prefect handbook in your mail back in fourth year, you never wanted the title of prefect as much as you wanted to be quidditch captain, but being prefect had its perks. Tonight, was not the case.

“There’s a Troll in the Dungeons!” Honestly, why do you even expect peace in Hogwarts? You can’t even eat a meal in peace. “Thought you’d ought to know.”  
What happens after Quirrell faints can only be described as complete pandemonium. Students begin to scream, and you can see one Hufflepuff first year start to cry.

“Quiet!” Dumbledore shouts, voice amplified by Sonorous charm. “Prefects please lead your houses back to your dormitories.”

  
You frown at that, didn’t Quirrell say that the troll was in the dungeon?

Wouldn’t that just endanger everyone in Hufflepuff and Slytherin?

Casting a Sonorous charm on yourself, you address the Slytherins in a calm manner, “Slytherins. The troll is in the Dungeons. Stay calm while I go and make arrangements for us to stay here in the great hall until the situation is settled. Anybody acting out of line will have detention for a whole week.” The Slytherins miraculously listen and sit back down.

Frustratingly, you can’t find Snape in the crowd of people still in the great hall, so you plan with Professor Sprout for both Slytherin and Hufflepuff house to stay in the Great Hall. Sprout grateful towards your quick-thinking rushes towards the doors casting locking and protection charms. You grin and join in, you’ve been placing protection charms around your bed ever since your first year and it’s the least you could do to help.

Looking towards the Hufflepuff table, Penny is surrounded by nervous first years. seeing you approach, she smiles weakly at you. “I told Sprout that both our houses should stay here.” You say stiffly.

“Vega.” You nod and look at the first year Hufflepuffs who cower behind Penny’s leg like you were the troll. You raise your eyebrows at Penny, who shakes her head.

You haven’t spoken to Penny since you ran away from her a few days before, and despite your close bond, the air surrounding you is charged with awkwardness.

“I’m not sure how long we’ll be in here. Professor Sprout reckons we should stay here for the whole night just as a precaution.”

“We’ll need to find an appropriate sleeping arrangement, I gather?”

“Most likely.”

So, with the help of a handful of Slytherin and Hufflepuff seventh years, you and Penny transfigure enough sleeping rolls for everyone. Sprout awards both houses with fifty points as she tears up at your teamwork.  
You don’t speak to Penny at all in the first few hours when you and Penny stay up to watch as Professor Sprout herself fell asleep. But it was in the early hours of the morning where you can’t help yourself.

“Are we not speaking for any particular reason?”

“I don’t know, you’re the one that’s not telling me anything Vega.” You feel yourself get defensive. You can see Penny’s body tensing and your throat closes tight to prevent you from saying something stupid. You try to swallow your frustration back down but barely manage to hold in your scoff.

  
Penny sits up straighter, more awake in her anger. You suddenly feel more exhausted. “I’m… I’m trying to work through a few things Penny, I haven’t found the right words to tell you what I’m going through.”

 

“I suppose not. Especially when you’re not even trying.”

 

\--

 

You are grateful to whatever powers exist, that your position as Quidditch captain keeps you extremely busy throughout the next couple of days. With Oliver Wood’s and therefore Gryffindor’s miraculous find, you realise that Potter boy can really hurt your chances of winning the Quidditch cup for your final year at Hogwarts.

So, you double down on the intensive practices, not accepting anything less than perfection from your team.

Which provides ample excuses to not say that you are avoiding Penny.

  
But… you miss the closeness and comfort you had with each other. Fully aware that it is your own fault for distancing yourself, you figure that since you’ve spent so much time digging this grave, that you might as well just lie in it.

But you’re also hype-aware of the precarious edge on which your more recent interactions have been tipping into. Which was a problem, because, despite the tension between the two of you, the attraction doesn’t diminish. No, it multiplies into a far higher level, treading into unfamiliar territory that makes your insides do summersaults whenever Penny is around.

Not surprisingly, Penny hasn’t shown up to any of your Quidditch practice sessions like she usually does, which relieves yet disappoints you, so rather than heading over to the Kitchens like the both of you would regularly do. You decide to lose yourself to the repetitive motions of swinging your beaters bat at the wildly flying bludgers.

It was well past dinner and 10 new bruises later when you decide that enough was enough, dragging your tired body towards the changing room for a well-deserved shower.

Not even two minutes later, the door swings open with a crack and in walks Penny. Her presence has always demanded attention, but now it suffocatingly fills the tiny space of the women’s changing room, making it seem like the claustrophobic closet you’ve been living in for the past month of awkward realisation.

Your breath catches in your lungs as Penny sinks onto one of the benches across from you, pulling a brown paper bag filled with neatly made sandwiches.

“Hey.” Penny says weakly, “I bought dinner, would you like to join me?”  
Something is wrong, it was in the way her lips quivered and the way that her eyes seemed a little too full, and so, without hesitation, you gather Penny up in your arms as she melts into the hug.

“Sorry I stink.” You whisper a weak chuckle escapes her.

“It’s okay, I just, I missed your hugs.”

“What’s got you looking like this Pens?”

“I think I stuffed up.” She’s crying now and your heart shatters. Just because you’re a girl, doesn’t mean you know what to do when another girl cries.  
You’re so horribly constipated when it comes to this ‘emotions’ thing. Maybe it was the way you were raised, your family, blood purists, followers of the dark lord, were never one to show emotion to you or your brother.

“I… I’m sorry?”

“Bill and I broke up.” Your insides swoop in glee. You frown at your traitorous heart. This is not the time to be happy.

 

“Oh.”

 

“I guess long distance didn’t work out. He’s out there working and I’m still here in school, and I don’t even know if we can ever be in the same country once I graduate. He wants to go on adventures in Egypt and I need to stay here and support my family.” She clutches onto your sweaty Quidditch robes tighter. “And you’ve been avoiding me! And I feel like I’m losing everybody I love all at the same time.”

“I’ve been busy.” You answer, but it sounds like a weak excuse and you are not prepared when crystal blue eyes stare at you unexpectantly.  
Penny scoffs and tries to pull away, but for once, you’re not going to stuff this up.

“Penny, I’m sorry. I’m tired and I stink, but I believe we deserve a conversation. Would you mind starting over after I freshen up? We can even go somewhere more comfortable.”  
Penny nods and gives you a weak smile as you scramble towards the showers.

 

\--

 

That night when the both of you are warm and snuggled up on Penny’s bed, you tell her your second biggest secret.

  
“Pens. I’m gay.” And just like that, Penny understands why you have been so distant lately, and pulls you closer to her.

“Oh Vega, you’re my best friend, you’re my hero. I’ll love you no matter what. Thank you for telling me this.”

 

\--

 

You end up telling your collective friendship group and Merula soon after. You are sick and tired of staying quiet, and it just sort of happens.

Rowan and Merula were positively ecstatic, but for different reasons. Rowan has always supported you with 110% enthusiasm since day one. Merula, on the other hand, had apparently called your queerness from the day you both met and was ecstatic because – lo and behold – she was right. Because it takes one to know one.

You feel extremely lucky to have such good friends (and Merula you suppose).

 

\--

 

You’re still not sure how you ended up like this.

  
Knees propped up on the Ravenclaw common room couches, feet flat so Penny can paint your toenails while you study.

Well, you do. It started when Rowan invites you, Penny and Ben up to the Ravenclaw Common Room for a study session. Exams were swiftly approaching, and you were determined to stay on top of it all – unlike last year.

Penny grins triumphantly at you. “Do you like this colour?”

You peer down at your toes and swallow a grimace. You vaguely remember the name of the muggle nail polish, School Bus Yellow, or something like that. But it doesn’t fail to remind you of Penny’s Hufflepuff-ness when contrasted with the Slytherin robes you’re wearing and the blue of the room.

It makes you feel too much. “It’s great.”

Penny’s smile becomes impossibly larger. “I knew you’d look good in my colours.” With a quick flick of her wand, the colour dries shiny and unspoiled.  
You awkwardly catch Rowan’s eye. Penny’s hand lazily slides up and down your leg. God, you wish you shaved last night.

“You always know. Baby,” you end up saying. The word forming an unfamiliar shape in your mouth.

Rowan smirks that signature smirk of theirs as Ben’s eyes widen in realisation and aims a look between the two of you. Penny leans forward and props her chin up on your knees. Eyes twinkling in mirth at your exasperation. Reaching a yellow painted finger over, she boops your nose affectionately. You count to ten – before Rowan clears their throat and Penny pulls away.

“Sorry,” she mumbles, at Rowan and Ben, whose eyes were narrowed in suspicion.

“No, no, it’s cute.” Rowan’s voice is still too loud and their smirk still too much, and Penny has still not let go of your leg.

“You should be studying, Pens.” You interrupt.

“I’ve been studying for the last three days Vega, I deserve a little break.” You huff and try to settle back into the couch.

 

\--

 

Later, when it gets close to curfew and you both tumble down the stairs into the dungeon, Penny pulls you into the Hufflepuff dorm rooms and helplessly you follow.

  
Ever since that first night after Penny broke up with Bill, you’ve been sleeping in the same bed. Penny insists that she feels less lonely when you’re there and admittedly, it also makes all this physical touching easier, lessening your raw need into a gentle hum.

Some days you positively crave it, and now, Penny always seems to know when you want it – and she is always there with a quick back rub or handhold.  
You pull off your tie and rummage around in Penny’s nightstand for one of the pyjamas you’ve left there. Penny waits until you’re fully dressed and settled into bed next to her before she lazily waves her wand at the blinds surrounding her bed.

You join in and cast privacy and silencing charms like you do every night.

You don’t sleep in the Slytherin dorm room next to Merula Snyde and expect to not get hexed. Penny just takes it all in stride now, she finds it endearing that you find it essential.

“Ben asked me the weirdest thing before.”

You hum into her shoulder, eyes closed, your arms wrapped around Penny’s waist.

“Yeah, I was around the corner trying to study with Rowan.”

“Studying?” She giggles, “You were listening to our private conversation the whole time.”

You crack one eye open and grin. “Like it was hard. You didn’t even put a silencing charm to make it a challenge.”

“You’re a sneak Vega Steele.”

“And you and Ben are very discreet.” Sarcasm dripping off your tongue. You pucker your lips in preparation “What did you want to talk to me about Ben?”

Penny’s mouth drops open, “I do not sound like that!” She digs her fingers into your sides and you try to twist away from her. Penny knows all the spots to make you squirm; your ribs, knees, armpits. Even though you are bigger and stronger than Penny from all the Quidditch training you do, you have never managed to win a tickle fight against Penny.

You call out for mercy after a minute and Penny just stops where she is, making herself comfortable with her head on your shoulder and an arm around your waist. You feel a small kiss on your collarbone.

“For the record, you do sound like that.” You whisper, never content enough to just lose an argument. You’ve always been a sore loser that way.

Penny giggles, lips close to your ears and you’re amazed that your body hasn’t betrayed you yet. “Anyway, Ben wanted to know if we were together. He was a little bit concerned that I jumped back into the dating game so quickly after Bill.”

“Yeah, I heard all of that, kind of embarrassing. But, more importantly. How are you faring with that?”

“With Bill?”

“Yep.”

“Honestly, it’s going to take some more time. I… I still love him.” And there it was the clincher. Disappointment and longing welled up in your chest and you hate yourself for it.

It was horrible, that you felt happy that they did break up, but it was even more horrible that you are currently being a horrible best friend, Penny deserves so much more than your horrible self.

“Take your time Pens.” You whisper, “I’ll be right here if you need me.”  
Penny nuzzles into your neck, breathing hot sticky air onto your pulse point. It makes you shiver a little. You pull the cover up with one hand tucking them around you and Penny’s shoulder.

You’re nearly asleep when you hear Penny whisper, “Thank you.”

 

\--

 

You knew it looked weird, coming into Penny’s bed every night. Even if the other girls in Hufflepuff didn’t say anything, you could tell by the weird blushes they gave you that they thought something else was going on. Tonks even congratulated you and Penny but all you could do was stammer as Penny awkwardly replied with a “thank you,” and held your hand like you actually were a couple.

But for once in your life, you couldn’t give a rat’s arse about the rumours surrounding you and a certain blonde haired, blue eyed Hufflepuff. So, you paid no heed to the whispers circulating as you entered the Great Hall, too focused on your task of finding the rest of your Quidditch team to inform them that you’ve booked the pitch for another impromptu practice. All of them groan.

 

\--

 

You find yourself sweating through your thick Quidditch robes despite the cool of the afternoon. Something in your bones tells you that this match would be the start and the end of something and you don’t quite know what to make of it. It wasn’t quite like your prophetic flashes, but more of an instinct that told you to fight or run away. Swallowing a deep breath, you face Oliver Wood and Madame Hooch on the pitch.

Out of habit more than anything else, your mind fazes out of Hooch’s usual reprimand to you and your team about using dirty tactics, and let your eyes wander towards the crowd.

You find Penny on the stands surrounded by a sea of yellow – the only one wearing Green. You wonder where she got the Slytherin scarf and jumper from, and you vaguely recall leaving them on her bed this morning in your panicked state.

“Go, Hero! I believe in you!” You blush hard and try to tune back into what Hooch was saying.

 

\--

 

The Potter boy steals your victory. A filthy Gryffindor first year. Stole your Quidditch cup. Broke your streak. You feel like you’ve just lost an integral part of your very being and you are distraught.

Merula takes it worse than you, for she was the Slytherin Seeker. You bond over your joint pity party, sneaking out into Hogsmeade with a few other Slytherins in the dead of night. Getting spectacularly drunk in Hogshead – the only bar that wouldn’t report you straight away.

You kiss Merula then, in that dark bar, completely shitfaced and wanting to forget. She kisses you back, and for the first time in weeks you end up in the Slytherin dorm rooms, in the arms of someone else. Completely fucked up in more ways than one.

You tell yourself that being intimate with other people would be the best place to start when you’re trying to get over a straight girl. This is the most logical step forwards, you tell yourself.

 

\--

 

Penny finds you at breakfast the next morning worried about you. “Why didn’t come to bed last night?” And as you struggle to answer her question, Merula swoops and kisses you hard on the lips.

“She was with me, Haywood.” And from the strained smile Penny gives you, you finally knew what your bones were trying to tell you yesterday.

 

\--

 

You fall hard and fast for Merula. Every time you’re together you think of little else but the want to touch her all over, so you and Merula start ‘dating’ – or really, fucking and making out to the inconvenience to absolutely everyone, and nobody quite knows how to feel about that.

Rowan who has always had your back, for once, finally has something negative to say about what you were doing. “Hey Vega, may I talk to you for a few moments?” You glance up to see Rowan fiddle with their glasses. You shrug and walk off with them further into the maze that was the Hogwarts library.

Rowan quickly casts the Muffliato charm you taught them in fifth year and turns to you. “What are you doing with Merula.”

You act dumb, “What do you mean?”

“I’ve had enough of this bullshit. Honestly Vega. Merula Snyde???”  
“She’s honestly not that bad. She’s come a long way from when we were young.” You defend her, something you’ve never thought you would do.

“Look, this newfound respect you have for her is inspiring and all, and as your best friend, I want to support you. But also, as your best friend you and Merula are so not meant to be! What happened to you and Penny?” You frown at Rowan’s outburst.

“Rowan, nobody is meant to be with anybody. Merula and I like each other, and I don’t see why everybody can’t stay in their fucking lane.” You storm away to the Quidditch pitch frustrated and upset that it’s not just your heart that’s rooting for you and Penny.

 

Especially now.

 

Especially when you’re beginning to let go of those feelings.

 

\--

 

You end up alone at the end of your table surrounded by first years when the end of year feast rolls around. Slytherin banners flow freely from the walls and for once, everything is right in this world. You’ve gained the house 431 points in your last year and now you will graduate with Slytherin being rightly on top. Take that past prefects!

  
This. Is your moment to celebrate. Nobody can tell you that you’re not earning enough house points anymore.

So, of course, the Potter kid and his motley gang of firsties had to steal that away.

“There are all kinds of courage,” says Dumbledore, “It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends. I therefore award ten points to Mr Neville Longbottom.”

You wonder where that loud “No!” came from but soon realise that it was you who let out the strangled screamed as the banners changed from Green to Red.

You see Merula, a bit away bury her head in her hands in defeat, unknown to her, she was mirroring Professor Snape, who had just turned as white as a sheet. While the first year directly in front of you – Malfoy if you remember correctly – was screaming bloody murder towards the Gryffindor table and you can’t help but feel the same.

 

\--

 

You meet up with Merula that last night in Hogwarts, kissing her softly, you don’t think you could have survived the year without her. She had made everything so much better, and you find yourself getting swept up in your feelings for her. Especially now that everything you have tried to achieve has basically melted and gone down the drain. She numbs your pain as she cradles your face in her hands.

“You know what would be fun?”

“Sex?” you ask, hopeful.

“Actually, it’s our last night here and we never figured out who the best Witch was.” And just like that, you and Merula decide that you would end the year properly. With a duel to finally see which Witch, is the best Witch in Hogwarts. Quickly, the rumour of the duel spreads throughout the seventh years and for the final time, Merula and you stand before a crowd and duel it out in the courtyard.  
  
McGonagall was the one to end it all. Blasting away both your wands and giving you and the crowd the smackdown of the year, mostly because she couldn’t deduct house points post house cup ceremony. Ending it all with the quiet admission that she was the best Witch in Hogwarts.

You decide, then and there, that there simply wasn’t any competition. McGonagall was the best Witch to ever grace Hogwarts’s halls.

 

\--

 

Two weeks after graduation, having settled back into your parent’s manor, an Owl from Snape appears. It seems like his old professor was looking for two new apprentices and he had recommended you to a Horace Slughorn. You feel like you’ve scored the jackpot prize, because job searching without having to use your parent’s shady connections is hard and has already given you so much grief.

Thrilled, you respond to Professor Snape straight away, and soon enough, you are meeting up with Professor Snape and Slughorn in Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlour, waiting for the second potential apprentice to appear. You’ve just ordered a double scoop of an extremely pink ice cream when the second apprentice shows up.

 

“Ah, there you are Miss Haywood, please sit.”

Your heart shudders.

Penny.

 

You haven’t seen or even heard hide nor hair from her since the train ride home, then again, that was just a flash of her hair as she made her last patrol as Prefect around the train.

Penny’s eyes immediately brighten when she sees you, she doesn’t even pause to say hi to Professor Snape or Slughorn, just boldly marches towards you and gathers you into the biggest, most bone-crushing hug, you’ve ever been in.

“My ice cream!” is all that you manage to wheeze out before her attention snaps back to the two men.

“Professor Snape, Professor Slughorn!” She greets, excitement in every syllable.

Not surprisingly, Slughorn takes to Penny immediately, and to you, slowly, like a fine aged wine.

Penny’s passion for potions had never wavered since she was a child and now, a career in potions only seems apt, so of course, Slughorn felt a connection through their kindred spirit.

You, however, had to grow into your love of potions making. Unlike Penny, you certainly didn’t come out of the womb brandishing a flask of potent potion. Your love for brewing developed later in life over smouldering coals and heady aromas and late-night coffees. Slow and steady, yet new.

 

\--

 

As easily as you start your career, you begin to fall back into Penny’s orbit. You don’t even have to try, you’re running around like a headless chicken for Slughorn and Penny just sort of happens around you.

You see Merula less now, but there are a thousand reasons for that, there is your apprenticeship – Slughorn is a taskmaster; your growing need to reconnect with Hogwarts friends; and your new part-time job in Borgin and Burkes something you don’t really want but fell into when you realised you needed extra money for all your potions ingredients and asking money from your parents felt like defeat.

 

You have been so busy lately, and Merula required a timeslot that you don’t always have.

 

But this Penny thing happens almost too naturally, and it unfolds around you without any effort on your part. You go on about your day and do the tasks Slughorn sets for you, work your shift at Borgin and Burkes, make dinner for Penny and her busy muggle filled family, sing songs with her kid sister as you clean up, and curl up into Penny’s bed at the end of the day, where Penny all but pulls you down under the covers and doesn’t let go until morning comes.

The thought of Merula hardly crops up. And before you know it, it’s been two weeks before you last heard from her.

You only realise it’s been two weeks when Merula shows up at your office, all hot and cold. Penny makes that face of displeasure when she sees Merula. That one face where it looks like she’s sucking particularly hard on a lemon and trying to smile at the same time. It’s the same face Penny makes in every interaction that she and Merula had at any given time during their Hogwarts years. It’s seriously strange that Penny has reserved this one face, especially for Merula.

“Merula! What a pleasure to see you here.” Penny greets, sarcasm dripping with every word. Just like a wrecking ball, Merula swings past Penny and settles her grey eyes on you.

 

“Vega, we need to talk.”

 

\--

 

Merula takes you to a small, yet nice restaurant on the outskirts of Diagon Ally for lunch. Your first official outing outside of Hogwarts, and it’s a nice day.

“I’m breaking up with you.”

Well, you should have seen this coming.

 

\--

 

It was a testament to how much maturing you both did after the Sixth year, that the conversation didn’t end up with one of you retching on the floor. In fact, it was perfectly civil and emotionally constructive. Merula agrees that you have been neglecting her, but a relationship is still a two-way street and Merula confesses that she had never once thought to start your interactions herself.

At the end of lunch, you leave with a weight at the bottom of your stomach and with eyes threatening to spill.

 

\--

 

You return to the Potions lab five hours later to find Penny still there. She jumps out of her chair when she sees you

“Merula and I broke up.”

“Oh Honey, no,” she says. Even if she hates Merula’s guts, Penny had been the only one positive about your relationship. Even ending up at odds with Rowan for a full week defending your right to make out with Merula in the great hall.

You both close the lab and apparate back to Penny’s family’s small house, on the outskirts of York.

It’s so different to your own family manor, one it being very small and two, completely not filled with any magic. In fact, it was as mundane as they came. But what it lacked in magic, it excelled in everything else. The Haywood’s have done nothing but try to make you feel loved and appreciated. Not because you have something they want, but simply because you are Penny’s friend.

They distract you the whole night as you sit between Penny’s younger sister and Father as they introduce you to something called a ‘movie’.

 

\--

 

It takes you three months to finally get over Merula. Getting over her hadn’t been easy, but it happened smoothly enough. A few crying sessions here and there, getting drunk with your new muggle friends on some nights; and when the haze of emotions and hurt had finally passed, allowing logic, rationality and self-forgiveness to settle in. Yeah you and Merula might not have been the most perfect match, but you did like her. A lot. Something you didn’t really know until you lost her.

After dinner, Penny tries to drag you away from the warmth of the fireplace and into her bedroom. “Our bedroom,” she corrects. “You are a part of this family Vega, this is our bedroom.”

Penny’s father rolls his eyes at the both of you, a soft wistful smile on his lips.

“Do you remember when we were like that Sarah?” he addresses Penny’s mum.  
A deep red blush crawled up Penny’s neck and you can’t help yourself, you laugh.

 

\--

 

Snuggled under the warm duvet, and full of food, you confess to Penny your most private thoughts about your relationship with Merula.

With Merula you have always worried whether you wore deodorant, or if your bra matches your underwear. With Merula you were always anticipating something dramatic, always knew that every positive or negative interaction came with a cost. And with Merula, you always knew that one day, you and Merula had to end.

Penny holds you tighter tonight and whispers her own confessions.  
About how she was shocked that you and Merula ever got together in the first place. About how she hated the idea of you and Merula together those first few weeks. Because she was jealous that her warm pillow was in someone else’s arms.

 

And about how she had to face the inquisition from her family about your relationship with her.

 

“They think we’re dating.”

You raise your eyebrows. “I guess it looks like it,” you say slowly, confusion clouding your voice, “but, don’t they know you’re straight?”

“Um… I’m not. Actually. I’m Bi. I wasn’t exactly hiding my attraction for girls Vega.”

 

Your brain short circuits.

 

“What.”

 

“I’ve known for so long that I was Bisexual.” She giggles at that, “Did you know that I had the biggest crush on you in first and second year? You were like a knight in shining armour when you beat Merula into submission.”

“Huh. Really?”

“Yeah. I thought it was so obvious! Rowan teased me so hard about it!” Her fingers lightly dance on your hip and something deep inside you unravels. A feeling you haven’t felt in so long rears its ugly head as you take in Penny’s blue eyes and undone hair.

 

Hope.

 

“Oh, oh wow, I’m flattered, Pens. Admittedly, I never thought about liking anybody then. It was all Cursed vaults and house points and… I was a mess. Um, I’m sorry for being nosey, but have you ever gone out with a girl?”

“Yeah… um… Scarlett… before she…” Penny takes a deep shuddering breath. “Scarlett and I were dating. We were actually on a date when we saw the Werewolf.”

“I’m sorry, babe.” You softly kiss her forehead and hold her. You hate that Penny must live with the memories, but you don’t regret your choice of telling her to not take the forgetfulness potion.

 

\--

 

The days pass and Christmas looms, and you start to hear odd rumours about another secret chamber in Hogwarts, and at the bottom of it all, Harry Potter and a Weasley. Typical really, when hasn’t there been a deathly mystery in Hogwarts that didn’t have a Weasley embroiled in it?

You start to see Rowan and Ben again. Rowan has returned from the states for the Christmas holidays, they had recently started a stint tutoring Illvermorny students transfiguration. Ben, on the other hand, has come a long way from his cowardly self and has recently passed his Aurora training with Tonks. You’re so excited to finally see them again, and you fall back into the easy bond each of you had with the other during Hogwarts.

You tell them everything about your life since you left Hogwarts. Your slowly growing bank account and notoriety in the brewing community; your breakup with Merula; the rumours currently surrounding Hogwarts; Your parents growing expectation of you to become the heir of house Steele. Like Jason wasn’t still in the picture.

What you don’t talk to them about is this Penny thing. You don't tell them how you and Penny are essentially living together, how you’ve been thinking about how she would randomly kiss your cheeks and grab your waist instinctually and how you both breathe words of encouragement to the other.

 

You don’t tell them about how you’ve begun to feel feelings for Penny again.

 

You don’t tell them about how your relationship is so – effortless.

 

It’s not that Penny isn’t worth the effort, but it’s totally easier because Penny wants for nothing but your presence in her life. Because Penny has already seen every facet of you and your personality. Your worst and your best and she still wants every bit.

 

\--

 

In the new year, and with Penny’s insistence, you officially move out of your parent’s manor. You formally request to move out of the manor like you still live there. Of course, your parents refuse, and so, in a bout of rebellion, you bought an apartment in a muggle suburb close to Penny’s family using your trust fund money.

Jason who had never recovered from the trauma of being stuck in the cursed ice, sends you an owl from wherever he is, to tell you how proud he was of you.

Your parents, however, were livid. Sending a howler to you at work. Slughorn was surprisingly sympathetic and decided to let you and Penny go for the evening.

With your own place, you really begin to flourish, having your own home, with your own protection spells and potions have finally made your anxiety about belonging finally quieten into a dull hum. But living by yourself was lonely.

You’ve lived with a rowdy family for a year now, and you haven’t quite gotten used to the silence.

 

\--

 

You spend more time at work trying to beat away the loneliness. As you set up in front of your desk with a coffee in preparation for another long night, Penny swings up behind you, sliding her arms around your waist. She’s slightly smaller than you even when you’re sitting down on the stool.

“Honey, why don’t you come home with me tonight? You’ve spent the last few nights staying late, and I’m worried about you.”

“There’s nothing to worry about Penny, I’m just bored? Maybe a little bit lonely at home. I guess I’ve gotten used to your family.” Penny brushes away your many excuses to stay in the lab, and yet again, you find yourself folding as she takes your hand in hers and promises cuddles.

 

You’re a complete slut for cuddles.

 

You wake up in Penny’s bed the next morning, arms groping at empty sheets trying to find the source of warmth you fell asleep next to.

“Pens?”

When you receive no reply, you groan and reluctantly get up, shuffling out of bed and down the stairs to the bathroom. One hot shower later, you shuffle into the kitchen in search of coffee. You can feel your caffeine withdrawal headache kick in and that’s what distracts you from realising how quiet the house is.

Twenty minutes after your second cup of coffee, you find Penny’s parents enter through the front door, talking in hushed tones. You wonder if you should just quietly slink away and let them have their talk, but It was too late as Penny’s Dad spots you and beckons you over.

“So, Penny tells us she’s moving in with you Vega.” You panic.

“Yes?” was your weak reply, you didn’t even know Penny was scheming behind your back like this, but of course, she would have done something after she heard about your loneliness.

Both Mother and Father turn to look at each other and then at you. Their faces perfectly neutral that it begins to scare you.

“Come, let’s sit,” says Penny’s Mum, “We should have had this conversation long ago.”

They begin to grill you. What are your finances like? How are you going to support Penny? What are your future plans? Despite the fear, you pull through and answer their questions as truthfully as you can. You know what you’ve achieved, you will do everything in your power to support Penny in whatever she wants to do, and your ambitions have always been a defining part of you.

“Vega, ever since you’ve come to live with us, we’ve seen you as our third daughter. As Family. We know that you might not officially be family until laws change and you and Penny marry, but we want you to know that we trust you with our daughter. She loves you, and we know you love her just as much.”

 

“What we are trying to say is that we approve. Don’t let anybody else tell you your love is wrong.”

 

You begin to tear up, not because they think you and Penny are a couple – okay maybe it is a little bit of that.

Because that couldn’t be further from the truth.

 

But because you have never felt such open and verbal acceptance from parental figures before. And that’s when you all notice the door carefully opening, Penny standing in the doorway, hand loaded with groceries and looking at her parents with fury on her face. You try to help her, tears still streaming down your eyes.

“Mother, Father. What have you done?” she drops the groceries on the floor in her haste to hold you. Looking into her eyes, you shake your head, dropping a small kiss on her nose.

“They’ve done nothing baby.” She relaxes a bit in your arms and lowers her glare at her parents but doesn’t completely drop it.

“If either of you hurt Vega, I’ll..”

“I love you.” You whisper, “and thank you for protecting me, but your parents have done nothing wrong. Nothing but make me extremely happy.”

 

\--

 

It was only when you leave for your lunch shift at Borgin and Burks that you realise what you said. This little crush of yours is no longer just a little crush.

You love her.

You love Penny Haywood.

Maybe it was time to let her know.

 

\--

 

The next day, you receive three owls, one from Professor Snape, another from Slughorn and the last from Bill Weasley. You haven’t kept in contact with Bill ever since he left to work for Gringotts, so you read that one first, because one, you were curious, and two, because you realised you missed him.

The Owl from Bill wasn’t the happy reunion letter you were expecting. Neither were the letters from Slughorn and Snape.

The situation in Hogwarts has escalated.

The Chamber of Secrets has been opened and Bill Weasley’s sister is missing. You and Penny have been commissioned to batch brew and administer the draught needed to un-petrify four students, a ghost and Mrs Norris, Filch’s nightmare cat.

 

\--

 

Arriving at Hogwarts brought back so many memories and feelings, Penny tightly grips your hand and you know she feels it too. You see Bill and Charlie Weasley surrounded by their family, deathly quiet and holding the arms of a sleeping read headed girl you assume is their sister.

“Bill.” Penny rushes past you to tackling him into a big hug. You turn away and look at the still petrified students, heart plummeting.  
Perhaps you should get to work and forget about picking up the pieces of your heart.

You lose sleep tending to the mature mandrake root draught, trying to trick your mind into forgetting that Penny possibly still loves Bill. When you can’t distract yourself with work, you talk to the petrified form of Mrs Norris, content that she wouldn’t snitch you to Filch when she’s like this.

Penny is the one that administers the draught to everyone, she has a better bedside manner than you do, and it was apparent that as soon as these students manage to regain consciousness, the first thing they would do is panic. Madam Pomfrey praised Penny’s bedside manner and offers her a job if she ever fell out of love with potions.

 

\--

 

With the tension of the last few days finally over, you and Penny both return home. You are exhausted, you haven’t fully slept well for days because of your anxiety, longing and dread. You feel Penny curl up next to you, she’s been chatty the whole night, trying to fill the silence with mundane happy chattering about the students you both cured, about how wonderful it was to catch up with Bill, Charlie and the Weasleys, about how if she didn’t love brewing potions so much, she could totally be a healer. But you can’t muster up the energy to talk right now.

You just want to sleep for a thousand years. Or at least until your energy fills up eight hours later.

And you definitely, 100 percent, do not want to talk about Bill right now. At all. Ever.

“Penny, I’m really tired. I really don’t want to talk right now.”

“But, Vega I just have so many things on my chest. My brain is going 100 miles an hour and you’ve not had the energy to talk at all for the past few days.” Penny wraps her hands around you in a backwards cuddle and continues to talk, “You’ve been so quiet ever since we saw Bill and – Oh.”

 

“Vega. Are you jealous of Bill?”

 

“What? Jealous?? What the hell are you talking about Pens?” you scoff stiffening, body curling further away from Penny’s increasingly insistent hold.

“Oh my god you are.” Penny rushes, “Vega, honey, I need to tell you that there is nothing to be jealous of.”

Your head twists towards Penny, as you try to defend that, “Actually I’m not jelou-“, just as Penny tries to kiss your cheek.

 

Her lips land on yours and you still. Your head filled with the scent of Penny’s shampoo and lip balm and lasts one infinite, heavenly stretch before Penny pulls away breathless.

 

“I…” you begin, but every coherent thought flies out the window as both your heart and your brain unify for once, and you kiss her again. Slow and steady and…

 

_She’s so soft_.

 

“Vega, wait.”

You pull away, and oh god, you just kissed her without stopping to consider if she even liked you or even wanted to kiss you and!

“No. Vega, I need to tell you something first!” You hold back a choke and nod to let her continue your inevitable rejection.

“Vega, I want you to know that there is nothing you should be jealous of. Because I love you.”

 

“You love me?”

 

“Yes!” Hearing the words from Penny’s mouth is such a relief, and it feels incredible when you whisper that you love her too.

“Good!” she exclaims, “Do you know how long I’ve been trying to seduce you for Vega? A whole year!”

“You were?” She shakes her head at you in exasperation.

“Sometimes you’re really smart, but as soon as it has anything to do with your feelings, you’re just. Really thick.” Penny’s eyes shine with amusement, her fingers dance through your short hair, “I was waiting to see any signs of whether you liked me back. And I thought I saw something when my parents grilled you. And then you got so jealous that I thought that you must!”

 

Placing a finger on her mouth, you finally having breathing room to ask her a question, “can I kiss you?”

 

Penny, much too shy to suddenly flirt back, only nods her head. Your heart felt impossibly full, and you knew you were grinning like an idiot. A happy sigh escapes both of you when you brush your lips against hers before capturing them fully. And you can’t help but think…

 

  
Finally.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not that great of a writer, but this story was the result of my need for more Penny fan fiction and waiting for my energy to refill. I literally blinked and 8k words later I had a story.
> 
> I'm currently in year two in the game, so I'm sorry if you didn't see the other characters. I didn't want to write a story and not represent all the characters properly.
> 
> Anyway, I can't wait until they allow us to date in the game because. I HAVE A GREAT NEED.


End file.
